From a shared fascination with photography's past, including early photographic techniques, to creating works which give form to the literal passage of time and the fleeting evidence of cultural change, many artists are creating works that evocatively engage with how the past has been shaped by photography.

Organized thematically, this volume explores the work of twenty-six contemporary artists who investigate the complex and resonant relationship of photography to time, memory and history. While many photographs seem to depict a singular moment in time, each image contains multiple layers, including the instant of exposure, the moment of viewing, and the lapse in between.